Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell (top 3) & Bob Burleigh (bottom 3)

NEWARK, DE -- James Madison had the big plays on offense, but the University of Delaware took advantage of four turnovers and turned them into a key 37-34 Colonial Athletic Association football victory in a showdown between two Top 20 football powers Saturday afternoon at sold out Delaware Stadium.

The No. 7 ranked Blue Hens (8-1, 5-1 CAA), coming off a 59-52 win over a Navy a week ago, pulled out their second straight high-scoring victory as they recovered three JMU fumbles and intercepted a pass and All-American Omar Cuff (#28 at right) continued his record-breaking season by running for 101 yards and three touchdowns. The 12th-ranked Dukes (6-3, 4-2 CAA), an NCAA Tournament participant a year ago, lost for the second straight week after winning six straight games.

Delaware, which avenged a 44-24 loss to James Madison a year ago, defeated the Dukes at Delaware Stadium for the sixth straight time as the Hens withstood a punishing JMU ground attack that totalled 403 yards on the ground.

“This was a great game between two outstanding teams,” said Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler, whose team reached the eight-win mark for the third time in his seven-year tenure. “You look up at the scoreboard and see that they’ve run for over 400 yards and you wonder how you won. But getting those turnovers was huge and made such a big difference. To get a win over a very good JMU team and be on the verge of a conference championship is a great thing.”

Cuff, a Walter Payton Award candidate as the top offensive player in NCAA FCS and the nation’s leading scorer, continued to waltz into the end zone at a record pace. The senior running back rushed 28 times for 101 yards and three touchdowns, the last an eight-yard burst that put the Hens up 37-27 with 12:50 remaining. He surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark for the 17th time in his career and also caught seven passes for 66 yards, surpassing the 1,000-yard receiving yardage mark for his career.

Cuff improved his rushing touchdown season total to 27 and his overall touchdown mark to 31. He set CAA records for rushing touchdowns and overall touchdowns in a season, breaking the standards set by current National Football League players Marcel Shipp (Massachusetts) and Brian Westbrook (Villanova), and his 31 total touchdowns tied the NCAA FCS single season mark established by Kevin Richardson of Appalachian State in 2006. Cuff needs three rushing touchdowns to tie Richardson’s mark set last season.

Also for the Hens, quarterback Joe Flacco (#5 at right) completed 33 of 41 passes for 257 yards and also ran for a touchdown while Aaron Love (#17 diving at right) caught nine passes for 94 yards.

Defensively, Delaware redshirt freshman cornerback Anthony Walters (#9 at right; at bottom right) from intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble to pace a unit that took advantage of four Duke turnovers. Kicker Jon Striefsky remained perfect on the season as he converted a school-record tying three field goals, all in the first half, to improve to 13 of 13 for the season.

“I think our kids played as hard as they have all season,” said James Madison head coach Mickey Matthews. “Delaware has the two best offensive players in league in Joe Flacco and Omar Cuff but we have to stop turning the ball over. We gave them too many short fields.”

Of Delaware’s seven scoring drives, four covered 45 yards or less as the Hens scored directly off three of the miscues.

James Madison piled up 442 total yards with 403 of that coming on the ground as Antoinne Bolton rushed for 172 yards, including long scoring jaunts of 55 and 48 yards seven minutes part in the third quarter, and Griff Yancey gained 171 yards and scored twice, one on an 86-yard burst early in the second half that pulled JMU to within 16-13. The run was the third longest in JMU history and the most by a Dukes player since the 1990 season.

The 403 rushing yards allowed by Delaware was the fourth highest in school history and the most since the 1996 campaign. The Hens allowed two opposing players to each rush for over 150 yards in the same game for the first time in school history and, after allowing 342 rushing yards in the win over Navy last week, have allowed 300 or more rushing yards in consecutive games for the first time ever.

Delaware jumped out to a 16-6 first half lead as Cuff opened the scoring with a one-yard dive and Striefsky booted field goals from 24, 31, and 37 yards, the last one coming with just three seconds left in half. The Dukes managed their only points of the half when Yancey scored from five yards out with 9:28 left in the half to cap a 57-yard drive.

A controversial call set up Cuff’s first touchdown. JMU’s Scott Noble rushed two yards to the Dukes’ 35 yard-line and appeared to be down after running into a pack of Delaware defenders. But Blue Hen defensive end Matt Marcorelle (#11 at right) grabbed the ball out of Noble’s hands and raced all the way down to the JMU seven-yard line. JMU staff and players argued, but the play stood and two plays later Cuff opened the scoring with his one -yard dive with a 2:58 left in the opening period.

Striefsky's first field goal was set up by a second James Madison miscue. Dukes punter Jason Pritchard bobbled a snap at JMU's own 29-yard line and Brian Brown recovered. Five plays later Striefsky booted his first field goal of the day for a 10-0 Delaware lead.

A wild third quarter featured five touchdowns, 35 points, and two lead changes with Delaware escaping the stanza with a slim 30-27 advantage. Yancey started the scoring with his 86-yard run on a play in which he appeared to be stopped at the line of scrimmage. But he escaped from the pack and raced untouched for the score to cut the lead to 16-13 with 12:01 left in the third quarter. Just three minutes later, JMU scored again and took what proved to be its only lead of the game at 20-16 when Bolton broke free and scampered 48 yards for a touchdown with 8:54 left in the period.

Delaware countered with a nine-yard run by Cuff with 6:01 left that gave the Hens a 23-20 lead and the advantage swelled to 30-20 when Flacco scored his first touchdown of the season on a three-yard sweep with 3:46 left. Flacco’s touchdown was set up when Walters intercepted a pass by Rodney Landers and returned it to the JMU seven-yard line. Flacco scored two plays later.

Bolton capped the third quarter scoring when he broke off for another big gain, dashing 55 yards and scoring with 1:42 left in the stanza to narrow the lead to 30-27.

Cuff scored what proved to the game-winner when he capped a 78-yard drive with an eight-yard run to up the lead to 37-27 with 12:50 left to play. But James Madison refused to give up and cut the gap again, this time to 37-34 when Landers scored from six yards out with 8:12 to go.

James Madison had the chance to gain the lead when they got the ball at their own 29-yard line with 3:39 remaining. After Landers ran for 24 yards to the JMU 37-yard line, the Hens forced the pivotal turnover of the game on the next play when Yancey got loose up the middle and moved inside UD territory but fumbled after a hit by Delaware safeties Charles Graves and Anthony Bratton. Walters recovered the fumble at the Delaware 31-yard line to end the drive and preserve the win for the Blue Hens.

Boxscore